**-Single Digit Summer-***

[parfect]

hi i am am new to the forum
16 years old and looking to improve my 15 handicap to 8 or 9 over the summer
my long game is the strongest part of my game
swing speed over 100mph drives 270-280 occasionally 300
5 iron- 175 7 iron- 155 P-Wedge- 120
my putting is probably the weakest part of the game but i am practicing that alot now.
what steps/ideas to you think i can take to improve my game to single digits aside from putting?
has anyone experimented with meditation/hypnosis? if yes, what were the results. also how important is physical fitness for consistency and club head speed? i bench 150 about 10 times, maxed out at 170. i go to the gym every other day. i am 5'8 135 lbs. do i need to increase muscle mass for more consistency and power? any suggestions will be greatly appreciated thanks

[nsherman2006]

hey, i started playing 2 years ago, im 16 years old, and i play to a 7 handicap right now, down from a 10.3 at the beginning of the season. Last year i dropped from a 26 in the summer to a 10.3 by November. I think what you have to learn to do is get irons within a reasonable distance of the green, and learn how to chip it close. Most bogeys dont occur when you are on the GIR. The best way to drop your handi is to learn to get up and down, as well as eliminating OB shots by playing more conservatively on tough driving holes. Give these strategies a try, they worked for me

[parfect]

thanks for the quick reply man
ill give those a try

[Augster]

Parfect, welcome first off.

A few answers to your questions.

To go from a 15 to single digits, it has NOTHING to do with meditation, hypnosis, magic, or the occult. NS was dead on, WORK ON YOUR SHORT GAME! Putting practice is overated. Work on your short chips and pitches. If you can chip it close, anyone can make 3 footers. The best players in the world only make 50% from 8-10 feet. Chipping it close IS the difference between a 15 and a 7 handicap, unless you are just terribly wild with the driver.

Fitness. You don't need to be strong to play good golf. Period. If you are 135lbs and hitting it 270+, you are plenty long and lifting isn't going to change that. At your age, lifting weights is basically to only impress the girlies. Since you are that long, I will assume you aren't obese or anything. With that length and HT. and WT, I would guess you make a pretty good turn. Lifting, done wrong, may restrict your shoulder turn and actually cause you to lose distance. What you should work on is flexibility. Get a book about strectching for golf and increase/maintain your flexibility. If you start a good stretching routine now, you are more likely to stay with it as you get older, and won't really have to worry about "golf injuries" and you will also maintain your power.

At 16, if you are training for golf only, time spent at the range(and the putting/chipping green) will come back 100-fold to time spent in the weight room, IMO. Lifting is for girls, football, basketball and hockey. For golf you need flexibility and practice, practice, practice!

Finally, do some reading. I would suggest Dr. Bob Rotella's "Golf is not a game of perfect" to really open your eyes as to what golf really is. The next I'd recommend is Dave Pelz's Short Game Bible. Those two put together should drop at least 3 strokes off your handicap just by saving shots. And that's only for reading them. Once you understand and practice, you'll be a single digit 'capper in absolutely no time.

I hope you read this and it helps you out.

Oh yeah, if you haven't already, get some lessons to see where your swing is at with a pro.

[BadFish]

I agree completely with the advice concerning the short game. I just recently worked with a pro who really talked to me about putting and chipping. He showed me what I needed to be doing differently around the greens and showed me the proper way to be hitting different chip and pitch shots and worked on shot selection around the green. I have already noticed a difference in my game, most significantly how much closer to the pin I can be with my chip after I don't hit the green. When this happens my putting doesent even need to be stellar to have a pretty good round although that is getting better also. Hope this helped because a lot of this game really is played around the green.

[BadFish]

By the way my handicap right now is a 14.6 but I would also really like to get it down to a single digit sometime this summer.

[Youngun5]

welcome to the board, we are about equals from everything you say, same handicap, same age, you seem to hit farther per pound than i do, and our quest to drop our handicaps

along with weakness, its all about the short game, my chipping has been great, but i putt just that bad to negate it all, i've recently made breakthroughs and following are great results in dropping scores, you look at the tour its almost always about who is putting good every week, along with keeping the ball in play, i've recently discovered how much easier this game is played from the fairway,

keep at it and you can enjoy golf for the rest of your life

[bogeymaker]

Originally Posted by Augster

Parfect, welcome first off.

Since you are that long, I will assume you aren't obese or anything.

Does that really make a difference in the length? Im a little (well, more than a little) overweight, but I always have been big and bulky. Is this taking away from my length?

[bdcrowe]

Look at John Daly and revisit this question.

Length is a combination of technique, technique, and a little technique. Actually, if your build (whether overweight or overbulked) hampers a full turn it can rob distance, but overall people of all sizes have the potential to hit it with power.

[parfect]

along with flexibility i think strength and mass can increase your distance
tiger woods began lifting weights a few years ago and also annika lifted weights and it improved their game.

[Youngun5]

they lift the right kind of weights, they go for a bunch of reps rather than the max weight several times, you have to tone those muscles not be ripped, tiger is very lean as is annika, not the hulk

[bdcrowe]

Yep. Mass gets in the way. Flexability goes MUCH further than brute strength.

[Loop]

parfect, are you 100% sure you're hitting it 270-280?
I used to say that when I started, as I sincerely thought my drives were long. Then I really measured my drives, and my average are about 250. On 500 yards par 5, I'd be 50 yards away from the 200 marker on average.
Funnily, I have a 105 mph swing speed and have about the same build as you. I hit my irons the same distance as you.
But my launch angle is around 18 to 20 degrees with a 9 degree driver... Go figure

BTW, look at Craig Stadler. The walrus is no small fry, yet his mass doesn't get in the way.

[merunslow]

just joined yesturday this is a great forum! My name is craig from virginia beach. I have been in the Navy now for 18 years and will retire Sept. 2006 to start on a second career. I was introduced to the good game of golf 15 years ago although back then i did not think it was so good. I caught the golf bug about a year ago and can't put the clubs down. I play the military course in the area mostly Aeropines golf course which is on NAS Oceana in Virginia Beach I have a 17 handicap and hope it keeps going down.
What's in the bag?
Ping G2 10deg. Galfroyblue stiff
Nike NDS 3-pw
Homemade ebay 3&5wood
Homemade ebay 52/56/60 wed (integra)
homemade ebay putter

[the Anomaly]

Another suggestion I would give is to never think yourself out of good shots. When I was trying to make the same jump down to sigle digits, all it took was for someone to tell me to take one practice swing (at most), visualize the shot I want to hit, get comfortable over the ball, and swing. I was taking all these unnecessary practice swings, telling myself don't hit fat, thin, don't miss right, left, etc. By the time I went to hit the ball, I had NO CHANCE to hit a solid shot. Be aware of trouble, but never focus on it. Block it out, trust your swing and hit it. If you hit a bad shot, at least you know it was something in your setup or swing, not you talking yourself out of quality shots. I hope this is of some sort of help. It worked for me.